Liam and Killian
by Degby
Summary: Liam and Killian are young brothers, living a quiet, ordinary life, shuttling between their divorced parents in a small town in Ireland. After Killian is injured in a traumatic accident involving the boys' father, their mother takes them overseas to her cousin's place in California to recuperate. AU!Realworld Scenario with kid!Liam and kid!Killian, no magic
1. Chapter 1

Killian was not supposed to be in the passenger side seat. He was supposed to be in the back. Kids under a certain age weren't supposed to ride in the front at all.

But the back of his dad's car was full of stuff he needed to sell at the second hand shop they were going to, so Killian got to "sit up front like a big boy."

Killian liked being the big boy for a change. Usually his older brother Liam got to sit in shotgun next to their dad, but today Liam was competing at the Junior Sailing Regatta in Dublin out of town and their mum had taken him there, leaving Killian with his dad for the weekend.

So far Killian had already done lots of big boy things with his dad, like going to the pub, trying to play darts and trying beer for the first time. His dad and all his mates thought it was hilarious when Killian spit out his first taste of beer. More for me then, his dad laughed and drank the rest of Killian's cup as well as his own.

Sometimes Killian was glad he wasn't a grown up. Grown up life seemed to be really boring. Whenever he hung out with his dad all they seemed to do was go to pubs and watch football matches and then watch his dad bet on them and lose more money and play cards.

At least he had been able to convince his dad to take him to Toys R Us if he was quiet and stayed put when they were at the pub. Personally, Killian thought his dad owed him the entire shop for how long he made him spend in the pub being bored, playing with his DS. He couldn't believe it when they finally got out of there. At least his dad was in a good mood, letting Killian sit up front like Liam when he asked and singing to the radio as they rocketed down the street. Maybe he had won some money.

Killian's dad was so distracted singing to the music in the car that he rocketed right through a red light.

The windows were down and Killian had his hand out, riding it in the air, making it surf on the current in time with the music. The wind whistling by felt so good.

The driver coming from the other direction thought they would stop at the light like anyone else. When they didn't the car plowed straight into Killian's father's car, right into the passenger's side.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes Liam hated his dad and his brother. The day Killian and his dad got in the accident, Liam's sailing team won gold in his age division at the regatta. It was the happiest moment of his life and his mom wasn't even there to see it. Minutes before the awards announcement was made, she'd gone outside to take a phone call. It was the police, calling about the accident, telling her his little brother Killian was unconscious in the ICU.

It was the beginning of a long time of that sort of thing happening. Liam getting pushed aside, because Killian was hurt and needed all the love and attention.

Liam was patient though. Just two years ago, he himself had been sick in the hospital when he had to have an operation to have his appendix out. For a while his mother and father had to take care of him and keep him at home. Then after a few weeks he was all better and went back to school and everything returned to the way it was before.

He knew once Killian was better everything would settle down and he would stop getting all the attention. It was just a matter of time.

The doctors did everything they could to try to save Killian's hand, but after a few days, they had to admit it was too damaged and it wasn't getting enough blood to survive. Killian's hand was dying and they had to amputate it.

Liam couldn't believe that Killian would never really get better, that he'd always have just one hand for the rest of his life. It didn't seem possible. It felt like a trick. Liam didn't want to see his brother in the hospital. He was scared Killian wouldn't look like his brother anymore, that he would look scary, but his mum made him.

In the end he was glad he did. Killian still looked like Killian. He wasn't scary. He smiled a little at Liam and said "hi." He sounded very sleepy and far away though. Their mum gave Killian a juice box and helped him drink it. Killian raised his hands to grab the juice box and seemed shocked when he realized he only had one hand and the other one was just an arm with a bandage on the end. He still wasn't used to it either and started to cry.

Liam felt embarrassed for his brother. He didn't want to look at him anymore and hid behind the hospital curtain. Then he cried a little himself.

After what happened their dad wasn't allowed to see them anymore. The police put their dad in jail for a few months and he lost the partial custody of the children that he'd had. Maybe Liam was a traitor, but his dad said it was all a misunderstanding, a mistake. He believed his dad. He could see his dad felt terrible about what happened to Killian. Liam wished he could visit his dad. He was curious to see the prison where they were keeping him, if it was anything like prison on the telly, like a dungeon. He begged his mum to visit him, but she just yelled at him and made him feel bad. But Liam knew even Killian asked about their dad, and wanted to know if he'd hurt his hand too. But no, their dad was alright, just in prison and Liam missed him.

It couldn't possibly be his dad's fault, he was certain of it. His dad was a hero, a firefighter in their hometown. He played drums in a band too. Liam knew his dad loved him and loved Killian as well. It had just been a mistake, he was sure of it. But then at the trial the police said his dad's alcohol level had been too high for him to be driving. That Killian wasn't supposed to be in the front seat at all. Their dad had been careless and drunk and Killian had paid the price. It wasn't fair.

Killian came home. Even though he didn't have a hand on his left side anymore, it still hurt him all the time. He had to take lots of medicines to take the pain away and that made him very sleepy. He stayed on the couch and watched telly and slept all the time. He wouldn't play football or video games or anything no matter how much Liam bugged him and he always looked sad.

"I don't understand how he can be too tired for video games," complained Liam to his mum. "He doesn't even have to get up for that. It's just like watching TV."

"It's different," his mum explained, "there's the controller."

And then, to his horror, Liam realized about the controller, the one you held in both hands. No wonder Killian didn't want to play. The sheer enormity of what had happened to his brother rose up and engulfed him all of a sudden. Killian loved to play video games and their dad had taken that away from him. Killian had done nothing wrong, other than to listen to an adult, when that adult told him where to sit, an adult he should've been able to trust. Liam was starting to hate his dad for what he did and it felt horrible.

He vowed, at least, to stop bugging Killian to play video games. He felt so bad about it, in fact that he stopped playing video games himself altogether whenever Killian was around, so his brother wouldn't feel sad. Liam realized he would just have to get used to the fact that Killian couldn't play with him anymore.

But without his dad or Killian to play with him, Liam was incredibly lonely. He stayed in the back garden after school. His World Cup football had deflated and his mum kept forgetting to blow it up again. Instead he was making do with a tennis ball, kicking it against the wall of the back of the house as hard as he could, hoping someone noticed the sound.

Bang, bang, bang. He hoped his mum noticed. He wanted her to notice something other than Killian.

But she didn't.

Liam heard a creaking metal sound from the window above him on the upper story. Killian's room. Hesitantly, in awkward bumps somebody was rolling open the window.

"Oi!" said a voice. Killian's pale face was pressed up against the screen.

"Come down Killy!" called Liam.

Killian gave a faint smile. A minute or so later, Killian was opening the door to the patio in the back. He grunted with difficulty trying to move the screen and close it with one hand. Liam went over and did it for him.

Killian was still in his pajamas, wearing his Bob the Builder slippers. His hair looked funny because it had been half shaved so they could stitch up his scalp after the accident. His sleeve was pushed up to his elbow. The end of his arm was wrapped up in bandages still and his face was wan, with dark circles under his eyes.

He noticed the tennis ball. "Can we play football with it?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure!" said Liam.

He gently kicked it over to Killian, making sure it went right to his feet, in the sweet spot by the inside of his slipper where he could easily kick it back from. Killian was a little weak and shaky at first, but soon he became absorbed in the game. He tired more easily than before and didn't try to rush Liam or fight him or say much, but at least he played with him and Liam wasn't so lonely or bored anymore.

After that it got easier to get Killian to play. Soon he became sort of normal again. They could even play videogames together, once Killian got his bandages off and he learned to bash the left side of the controller a bit with the end of his stump.

But Killian still only had one hand and their dad was still a bad person who'd let his own son get hurt from his carelessness. And everybody knew what had happened. It wasn't a big town. People were always coming up to Liam, at church or at the shops, asking how Killian was doing, clucking their tongues and saying how sad it all was and calling Killian "a poor little thing." It made Liam mad sometimes. He wished he could go away somewhere and take Killian and his mum with him, somewhere where no one would look pityingly on them and say "oh that poor family," "what happened to that sweet little boy" or demand to see how his stump was healing up or call Killian "a brave little boy."

Liam knew Killian wasn't brave. He cried out in his dreams every night and he sobbed when he had to go to the hospital to have his stump looked at and he hid under the bed because he was scared to go back to school.

Liam didn't want to be under scrutiny. He wanted to be anonymous, someplace where nobody knew their story, where they were just another regular family.

He didn't realize it, but his mum wanted the same thing too. She was tired of the stares and people shaking their heads or even coming right up to her asking her point blank how she could've trusted Killian to her ex-husband when he had a known drinking problem and how it was her fault that Killian got hurt. As if she didn't think about that enough on her own and beat her own self up with guilt every day.

If only they could get away. Someplace where they wouldn't always be reminded of what happened. Not forever, just for a short time. All three of them just needed a break.


	3. Chapter 3

Iris, Killian and Liam's mum, had not heard from her cousin Mila in America for a long time. She hadn't tried especially hard to keep in touch, truth be told. It wasn't that she didn't like Mila. They had grown up together as little girls and had been great friends, but as they got older, her mother and father started to disapprove of the slightly older girl. Mila like to go out late and party. She skipped school and smoked and it was known in town that she went out with several boys and had gone to Dublin without her parents' permission to see concerts several times.

Mila told Iris that there was no way she was going to stay in their little village forever. She was determined to get out of town and explore the world. Especially, she was determined to go to America and have adventures. As soon as she could, she picked up sticks and made for London, where she worked part time, took classes in acting and dance and did "Lord knows what else to make money" according to Iris's disapproving father. Iris kept in touch with her cousin, discreetly of course, even managing to hook up with her on one particularly memorable school trip to the British capital. Eventually Mila did get her chance to travel, signing on to work as an entertainer on a cruise ship.

Around that time Iris met Sean, and one thing led to another and Liam came along and before Iris knew it she was married and working at her parents shop and living in a nice enough house in town. She'd never really wanted to take the path Mila had, but sometimes, she felt wistful for the adventures she'd never had. The farthest she'd ever travelled was on her honeymoon with Sean to Tenerife.

When next she heard from Mila, her cousin was in America, working at a casino in Las Vegas. "Hmmph," said Iris's father. "Didn't say exactly what work she was doing, did she?" Iris had to admit that no, she'd not said.

A few years after that they heard from her again and the news this time was most unexpected.

The peripatetic Mila had gotten married and was over the moon in love.

This was big news indeed. Iris knew Mila had had a wide variety of men in her life since they'd been in secondary school, she'd never heard, her talk like this about any one man, wanting to settle down and start a life together, wanting to be with just one person forever.

Just reading her romantic talk, made Iris's jaw nearly drop to the floor. Iris's mother, however was not surprised.

"See," she clucked smugly, "even Mila isn't immune to the pull of a nice safe home. It's abnormal for a woman to be so nomadic. Why are you so surprised? Of course, she'd want to settle down and lead a normal life eventually. All women do."

Of course, then her mother's jaw dropped completely when she read the rest of the e-mail as Mila described her chosen paramour.

"His name is Rum Gold," wrote Mila. "It's a stage name, of course, his real name is Rumford Boyle, but he prefers Gold. He used to be quite a well-known stage magician around these parts. You know that famous mother and daughter team Cora and Regina Mills who used live crocodiles and komodo dragons in their magic act?

Well, he used to be a part of it, until there was this rather nasty incident with one of the crocodiles. Unfortunately, it tried to eat him and sort of half-succeeded. Now he makes his living designing effects and illusions for other acts. I met him at the casino when he was a bit down and out and having a tough time after the whole crocodile incident and we got together and since then things have been going great! He just got a job working on some illusions for a new ride at the Disneyland so we've just moved out there, (to Anaheim outside Disneyland, not Disneyland itself, you know) with his son Baelfire. (Can you believe I have a 15 year old stepson? How cool is that!) I got a new job too, working at Six Flags Amusement park in a pirate themed acrobatics show. Come out and visit us sometime and we can get you and the boys into the parks for free!

Lots of love, kiss kiss,

Mila

"Holy shit you have got to be kidding me," laughed Iris's father. "Is that right Imelda? Mila ready to settle down and have a normal life? With a stage magician named after an alcoholic drink who once served as a crocodile snack? If it wasn't Mila I would swear it was a prank!"

But it was Mila and Iris knew whatever it was it wasn't a prank. Mila had her own happy ending and somehow it seemed fitting. Maybe it was a bit odd to Iris's folks, but if it was what made Mila happy then who were they to sniff at it. Was what she'd got, living the same sort of life her parents had in their little village, so very happy after all? So what if her cousin and her love were a little unconventional. She sounded delighted.

There was a small photo attached to the e-mail. There was Mila smiling radiantly, looking in her element in full pirate regalia standing beside a small, dapper looking man in a slightly old fashioned suit. From the small photo you couldn't tell he'd been crocodile snacks at one time. He looked like a perfectly ordinary, if a little weathered and slightly older than Mila, man. His hand was resting on the shoulder of a boy, who bore a striking resemblance to him. He looked about 14, with a mop of brown curly hair and a shy expression wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Mila's hand rested on the head a little girl with blonde pigtails and a cautious smile who looked about Killian's age. There was nothing in the letter to suggest who the little girl was. They seemed like a nice, if unconventional family. They looked like they loved each other.

As her parents sat drinking their tea and having a laugh at Mila's expense, Iris thought thought wistfully that she wished she could go visit them.

"So," her mother cut into her thoughts, "has there been any progress with Killian?"

"Progress with what?" asked Iris, not looking forward to Imelda's next nosy question.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "With his _hand,_ Iris. I thought they'd fit him for a prosthetic already. He needs a hook, a plastic hand, something at least. You can't just have him walking around with an empty sleeve for the rest of his life, it looks terrible."

"No it doesn't! Killian looks beautiful," Iris said through gritted teeth, tears in her eyes. "What a cruel thing to say! How dare you!"

"I just calls 'em like I see 'em," her mother said unrepentantly. "People will be more accepting if he has a prosthetic. I thought he was going to the Shriner's clinic to get one."

"He did get one."

"Than why doesn't he wear it?"

"His stump is still really sensitive and t hurts him. He doesn't like it."

"He'll get used to it. Just make him wear it and he'll get accustomed to the feel."

"No, no I won't. I won't make him wear anything, not if it hurts him. Hasn't he been through enough? He doesn't need to wear something fake to make _you _feel better if it's not comfortable for him. He's beautiful, any way he chooses to be."

"Maybe you see it that way," said her mother, "but other people might not think so."

"What? Other people like you?" said Iris angrily. "I'm done listening to you and your stupid advice! I shouldn't have listened from the very beginning when you fixed me up with Sean and told me to get married and work in your stupid shop! And now look at my life! I hate you! C'mon Liam, Killian! We're leaving!" yelled Iris and stormed out of her parents house trailing Killian and Liam in her wake.

Later on she apologized to her mother. "I don't really hate you," she said over the phone. "I'm just- just so frustrated here," she sobbed. "I feel- I feel _trapped."_

"Then maybe," said her mother, "you need to go someplace where you don't, at least for a little while. The shop will be here when you come back. I have a little money set aside. I could help you. Please, I love you Iris and I think Killian is lovely, I didn't mean it like that. This doesn't change anything of how I feel for my grandson. I was only trying to think about what might be best for him. Please. Would you forgive me?"

"Yes," said Iris.

After talking to her mother, Iris sat at the computer. She thought about the letter from Mila. She thought about how much money she had left in her bank account and on her credit cards and her mother's generous offer. Then she thought about LA.

An hour later she sat on the edge of the bathtub watching Liam and Killian brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Liam was already almost done brushing. Killian was still carefully trying to squeeze the toothpaste onto the bristly part of the toothbrush. Since he couldn't hold it in place with his other hand it wasn't easy. There were streaks of toothpaste all over the counter from the times he'd missed, but he was determined to get it on the bristles just like he'd tried at occupational therapy. He bit his lip, determinedly.

Iris kept her hands firmly gripped on the edge of the tub. It was killing her not to get up and help him, but she knew he had to learn to do things like this on his own. She promised herself she would only interfere if he got really frustrated and threw the toothpaste across the room again. Last time it had landed in the toilet bowl and she'd had to fish it out using gloves and throw out an almost completely new tube. She really hoped that didn't happen again.

This time Killian got the toothpaste on the bristles just as he was about to lose patience. "Yes!" he cheered and Iris smiled.

"Well done," said Liam and Killian grinned at his brother as he put the toothbrush in his mouth and began to brush away.

He was getting some of his old spunk and adventurousness back, Iris could tell.

At first he had been so cautious with everything, cradling the stump of his wrist with his good hand at all times, afraid anything he did would hurt it. He was still completely spooked by the playground, preferring to stay on the field part of the park and kick a ball around, rather than attempt the climbing frame or swings or the ladder that went up to the slide. Part of her hoped he'd give it a try and part of her worried if he did he'd get hurt again, but she knew she had to let him get out there and try things and learn to adapt. It was just hard feeling like all the eyes of everyone in town were on them, judging her negatively no matter what she did. If only there was some place she could help Killian get back to himself, far away from eyes that would judge her parenting skills.

"Hey," said Iris, trying to be casual, "how would you boys like to go on a trip?"

"A trip?" asked Liam.

"A trip!" enthused Killian.

"Where to?" asked Liam.

"What would you say to Disneyland?"

"In Paris?" asked Liam.

"In California," said Iris with a grin.

The two brothers looked at their mother with big eyes. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Please, please please!"

"Alright," said Iris. "Now do either of you remember your cousin Mila?"


	4. Chapter 4

After a long plane ride Iris stepped out of the plane into LAX airport in California, her two sleepy little boys in tow. She'd only woken them up minutes before and they were still rubbing their eyes. Iris herself hadn't slept at all on the plane ride. Somehow she was too nervous, thinking of all the things that could go wrong. She had never gone across the ocean and there had been turbulence. Mercifully, Liam and Killian had slept right through it as Iris clutched the arms of her airplane seat for dear life.

Iris sent a hurried text to Milah to tell her they'd arrived as they walked along.

As soon as they got into the baggage area, Iris's phone chirped. A message was coming through from Milah.

Iris squinted as she read the message on the small screen:

"Yay! So glad you're here! J I really want to be there to pick you up, but I got a call from work and I have to fill in for someone at the park. Rum's off today so he'll be my replacement okay? Sorry. He'll be at arrivals with a sign. Luv you.

xoxo

Milah"

Great. She should have known to expect something like this. Milah tended to be a bit flighty and unpredictable. Iris wondered how she ever got to work on time enough not to get fired in the first place. Oh well. Hopefully, Rum was a good driver. As far as first impressions went she knew she wasn't at her best and she hoped the boys would be on their best behavior. She was a little nervous at meeting him, without Milah prepping her first. Her cousin had mentioned that her husband used to work with an animal magic ac and had suffered a nasty incident with one of the crocodiles. Iris wasn't quite sure how to take a statement like "unfortunately, it tried to eat him and sort of half-succeeded." She wasn't sure exactly what Milah had told him about Killian either and how he'd react.

Killian and Liam each had a small carry on suitcase of their own with toys and games for entertainment on the plane. All their clothes were in the big suitcase in checked baggage that Iris hadn't used since her honeymoon. She just hoped the aiport didn't lose their luggage. Killian's new prosthetic was in the big suitcase with all their clothes. She reckoned it would be better that way than having him go through security with it, as they probably make him take it off for scanning and getting it back on again was a hassle. He preferred to be without it for comfort anyway.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her wonky old suitcase come trundling down the big chute to go around the luggage carousel. She had it up and on its wheels in no time and then they were out of the doors and into the arrivals area.

"Look around for a sign with our last name on it boys," she advised her the kids.

Obediently, Liam and Killian peered at the many strange people in the airport, on alert for one carrying a sign that read "Jones."

"There he is!" cried Killian, pointing at a small man, brown haired man leaning against a pillar by the sliding doors, a handmade "Jones" sign in his hands, a worried expression on his face. He gave a bit of a start at being pointed out with such vigour by a little boy shouting at the top of his lungs, but when he saw the little family group moving towards him, his tanned face cracked into a welcoming smile and he walked forward in their direction.

"Hello, you must be Milah's cousin Iris," he said sticking out his hand. Iris smiled and gave it a shake.

"And you must be the infamous Mr. Gold," she said.

"At your service," he said and gave them all a theatrical bow. Iris considered it all a little much for the occasion, but then, she supposed he was a performer. He rose with a grin. "And I'm guessing these two are Killian and Liam," he said, nodding at the two boys.

"No, I'm Liam, Mr. Gold," Liam corrected him, "and this one's Killian."

"Of course, but please call me Rum," said the former magician. "Come Iris, let me take your luggage."

Iris relinquished her heavy bag and the three of them followed Rum out of the airport into the warm Los Angeles sunshine. It was so bright outside that they had to blink for several seconds just to adjust to the light. Iris couldn't shake the feeling that someone was wasting loads of precious sunlight in one big go and that in a few days they'd be left in darkness, without any sunlight rations left.

Liam elbowed Killian as they walked along dragging their small suitcases. He was annoyed Rum hadn't offered to help him and Killian, and only their mother. Didn't Rum know Killian only had one hand?

"You hear that?" Liam whispered to his brother. "He said his name was Bum!"

Killian snorted with laughter and Liam giggled along. Their mother turned to give them a harsh look and they quickly hushed up.

Iris followed Rum across the zebra crossing into the car park. Watching from behind she only noticed now that he was wearing black leather pants in the steamy Los Angeles heat. _My God, he must be sweating terribly in those_, she thought, but he looked cool as a cucumber as he pulled the suitcase speedily along with only minimal effort. Iris thought he might have a bit of a limp in his right leg, though it didn't slow him down, but then she supposed it could've just been the result of being off balance from lugging such a big suitcase on one side.

Rum chucked all three suitcases into the trunk of a new black Mazda hatchback. Triple checking to make sure the children were seated in the back with their seatbelts firmly in place, Iris took her seat up front with Rum and they were on their way at last.

"Why is he wearing such funny trousers?" Killian whispered to his brother in the backseat of the car as Gold turned the station to the oldies channel.

"Because his other pair went for crocodile snacks," Liam snickered.

"Crocodile snacks!" Killian covered his mouth with his hand, trying to stifle his giggles. Now, thanks to Liam, Killian knew he'd never be able to look the man in the eye again without thinking _Crocodile Snacks._

"Is everything okay back there?" asked Rum (_aka Crocodile Snacks,_ supplied Killian's ever busy brain), with a glance at the boys in the rear view mirror.

Instantly, Killian cracked and dissolved into laughter, taking Liam right along with him.

Their mother looked back worriedly at the boys in the back seat. "I'm sorry Rum," said Iris, "I don't know what's come over them. I guess it's the jet lag and the excitement of being someplace new. Sometimes they just get silly when they're over-tired, too."

"Kids," shrugged Gold a gentle smile cracking his weary features. "What can you do? I have a boy of my own at home too. Baelfire. He's fourteen. Might be a little old for them to play with, but who knows?"

"Is he at home now?" asked Iris.

"No, he's at school and he has football—er—I guess they would call it_ soccer_ here after."

"Feel free to call it football with us," said Iris.

"You're from Ireland like Milah was?"

"Yes. And I take it you're from Scotland?"

"Glasgow born and raised."

After this statement Iris and Rum talked a bit about her visit ten years ago to Glasgow.

Killian began to dose off to the steady rhythm of the car's motion, his dark brown hair, nearly all grown out now, flopping across Liam shoulder, along with his head. Liam let his brother rest it there. Liam's arm felt stiff underneath the weight of his brother's sleeping body, but he didn't shove Killian away like he would if he fell asleep on him watching telly while on the sofa at home. Instead, Liam raised his arm and dutifully put it around his younger brother's small shoulders. They were in a different place now, he thought, and he, Liam, was the older brother. It was his job to protect vulnerable, younger Killian from whatever dangers they might face in this strange new land.


	5. Chapter 5

Hellllooooo, I'm back.

Sorry this story has been on hiatus for so long! But I have good excuses, I swear... I was on contract for a job plus I've been working on a novel, and I was evicted from one apartment, had to scramble like mad to find a new place to live, moved into a new apartment, still unpacking boxes, oh... and in the midst of it all I kind of had a baby. Seriously. Emergency C-section, shit was crazy, but now adorable Small Fry is doing fine and filling my world with cuteness. Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows all the way baby. Plus, in between feedings and diaper changes and fixing milk I have the occasional spot of time to write, the results of which you see before you.

Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It Never Rains in Southern California

Everything seemed so spread out and big in California to Liam, even the cars on the highway. The road they traveled on looked different too, gray, instead of black, with little grooves in it like grandpa's old records. He wondered if this was what Lucy felt like in his airplane book when she walked past the coats in the wardrobe to the realm of Narnia on the other side, and then he remembered that Narnia was cold and this land was the opposite; hot, baked dry. He wondered if it ever rained here at all. No wonder Rum was the only sun-tanned Scottish person Liam had ever seen.

The houses that slid past the windows of the air-conditioned car as they left the highway looked different than those Liam was used to. None were gray or made of stones like the ones back home. Instead the houses all seemed like pastel coloured meringues; all yellow, powder blue, pale pink or faded orange. Though they had front gardens, most weren't covered in green grass, just dusty yellow-brown scruff and instead of proper trees there were skinny palms without real branches. The tallest palm trees reminded Liam of the trees in Dr. Seuss books, with spindly striped trunks and wild tufts of hair-like fronds. He wasn't surprised to later discover that Dr. Seuss lived most of his life in Southern California.

Many of the houses, even the smaller ones had pools, sparkling like blue gems beneath the cloudless sky. Despite all his time in sailboats Liam still couldn't swim very well. He'd only ever had a few lessons. His dad was supposed to teach him and Killian how to swim for real during the summer holiday when the three of them went on their yearly camping trip. _Another thing that won't be happening now_, thought Liam bitterly. _Of course, _he told himself, cheering up again, _Disneyland is way better than some dumb lake back home any day._

When Killian woke up, he asked Liam if they were at the place where all the movie stars lived yet. Liam peered suspiciously out the window as the car started to slow down, moving off the highway into a neighbourhood of widely spaced adobe houses with tiled roofs. None of them really looked big or glamorous enough to be a movie star's house to him.

Finally, they pulled into the driveway of a low, split-level house that looked like it was coated in pink frosting.

"Well lads, here we are!" said Rum, as he opened the door. "Our own wee slice of the California dream. We even have our own orange trees and a pool."

Liam eyed him warily. He could tell the Scottish magician was very proud of his house, but it all seemed too strange and bright for Liam to find it comfortable. He held on tight to Killian's hand, for the younger boy's comfort, of course as their host led them inside.


	6. Chapter 6

Liam followed Rum Gold into the house. Inside it looked different than the houses he was used to seeing, wide instead of narrow, with yellow-orange walls of stucco and curving archways instead of rectangular doors. Little niches in the walls housed terra cotta pots filled with cacti and rubbery plants accustomed to dry conditions.

Iris complained of being exhausted and Rum showed her Killian and Liam to the guest bedroom where they would be staying. There was no real second floor for the bedrooms. The guestroom was only elevated a few steps higher than the living room, "split-level" Rum explained to them, with a twist of a smile. "Makes things easier." Although what "things" it made easier, he didn't elaborate on.

Looking out the window Liam could see the pool Rum told them twinkling below them, a bright blue jewel in the sun. There were foam pool noodles floating in the water that Liam imagined could be used as lightsabres and an orange inflatable ring thingy with handles that Liam bet would be fun to spin Killian around in. There was even a little bodyboard he thought might be fun to pretend to surf with. He nudged Killian and pointed it out, trying to get him excited about the prospects for fun, but Killian suddenly seemed shy and withdrawn at the idea of playing in the pool.

"Leave it out," his mother said, testily. "Let Killian rest."

There were two beds in the room they'd be staying in; a double for Liam and Killian to share and a single for Iris. Exhausted from not sleeping on the flight in, Iris stretched out on the twin bed. "Time for a nap boys." Killian began obediently removing his shoes.

Liam crossed his arms in front of him. "I want to go swimming. Naps are for babies."

"Even grown-ups get jetlag. Try to rest love, you'll feel better for it later."

Killian put his head on the pillow and soon was softly snoring. Iris closed her eyes and put her arm over her head to help shut out the light. Soon she was sleeping too, but Liam could not sleep. He'd had plenty of rest on the plane and he could never get to sleep easily in new places.

His eyes roved around the room, studying the weird posters prominently displayed on the walls.

One advertised the "Incredi-Mills" a mother and daughter magic team who wore spangled red and black outfits, fishnet stockings and top hats. Underneath a caption reading "Cora," was a woman with flaming red hair astride a huge crocodile. Beside the name "Regina: Queen of the Cobras" was a picture of a raven haired woman with a massive snake draped across her shoulders like a feathered boa. She held the snake's triangular head in one hand close to her lips as if she was just about to kiss it.

A second poster boasted "Malificent the Dragon Queen" and showed a woman in a horned headdress and scaled cloak riding a chariot pulled by a trio of komodo dragons. She had cat's eye pupils in her eyes, creepy green skin and thick, purple-black lips. Around her were clouds of purple smoke. She'd signed under the komodo dragons in silver marker: "Get Well Soon Lizard Man! The Boys Miss You!"

_Lizard Man?_

There was a third picture in the room, a glossy black and white photo in a plain black frame, like an actor's headshot, only this one featured a wiry human-lizard hybrid creature in a shirt cut down in a V to his navel, tight black pants, frizzy hair and pointed boots. He had nasty black nailed claws for fingers, scaled skin and huge scary eyes that were all pupil. There was a smile on his face, but it wasn't the least bit friendly or comforting. Rotting pointed teeth leered down at Liam from the foot of the double bed like they wanted to eat him and indeed the creature held a small (boy's?) skull in one clawed hand.

Weird as they were, the features of the bizarre man seemed nonetheless familiar to Liam, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Listening to Killian's peaceful snoring, Liam studied the odd nose that pointed down instead of up, and his eyes grazed idly over the words at the bottom of the photograph. "Rum Gold, the Legendary Lizard Man."

Liam blinked incredulously. How was it even possible? He looked so young, so thin, so… _weird. _Could all that in the picture just be _make-up? _But why would anyone _want _to look like that? Then Liam had an awful thought; What if his current appearance- the mild mannered Scottish man who'd picked them up at the airport, what if_ that_ was the disguise? Maybe the tanned skin was make-up and the lizard scales underneath were real? It was just too strange. He had to tell _someone._

Liam reached over to wake his brother. "Killian, you gotta see this."


	7. Chapter 7

Killian sat up on the bed next to Liam and looked at the picture.

"It's not."

"It is," insisted Liam.

"But he's got funny eyes there and he didn't have funny eyes at the airport," Killian protested.

"Maybe they're not real, like special effects or something."

"What are special effects?"

"Like fake, artificial. You know, what that means?"

"I know what ar-fit-ishal means," scowled Killian, narrowing his eyes.

"Right, sorry," said Liam feeling too guilty about accidentally bringing it up, to correct his younger brother's pronunciation. He looked out the window, unable to meet his brother's eyes.

The pool lay just outside and below them, a pristine sparkling blue gem surrounded by a low chainlink fence.

"Hey," Liam nudged Killian. "Want to go for a swim?"

"Can't," said Killian sticking out his lower lip. "Mum and Crocodile Snacks said we're supposed to wait for them."

"Well, we could still put on our swim trunks and sit out in the sun nearby. Nobody said anything about that and it's too hot for these clothes anyway."

"Okay," Killian agreed cautiously.

Quietly, without waking their mother they unzipped their bags, and changed into T-shirts, swim trunks and flip-flops. Liam helped Killian get dressed and together they set off down the stair to the main floor. Everything seemed quiet with no sign of their hosts anywhere.

"Do you think Croco—Mr. Gold is still around?" asked Killian nervously looking over his shoulder.

"I don't know," shrugged Liam.

"What if he gets mad?" asked Killian hanging back.

"What? From us just sitting beside his pool doing nothing? Don't be silly!" said Liam, pushed the sliding door aside and strode out angrily to the fence.

"How are we going to get over it?" asked Killian, fingering the strings of his swimtrunks nervously in his right hand.

"We—we can climb," suggested Liam uncertainly. Up close the fence was much taller than it looked from the window.

"We'll get in trouble. You don't even know what you're doing," sniffed Killian.

"Do too and since when were you such a goody-goody anyway?" snapped Liam. Even though the fence seemed tall to him, too, and was probably made specifically to keep small children like themselves out, Liam had to climb it now. He had to prove to Killian that it was part of his plan all along.

He took off his flip flops and began to climb the fence. It was easy, the diamond shaped holes the chain link made were just the right size for feet and hands. He got to the top and for a moment thought of jumping to get down, but then thought better of it. The ground was too far away. He slowly climbed down over hand.

"Now throw my shoes over!" he commanded.

"Why? You're just going to be in there having fun without me 'cause I can't climb over! You're always doing fun stuff without me now!" Killian was close to tears now, but then his look grew cunning. "If you go without me, I'm going straight to tell Mummy."

"Come on, Killian, you know I wouldn't leave you there," said Liam, although he probably would've considered it, if Killian didn't seem so committed to running and telling their mother. "I'll get you over!"

Killian peered at his older brother through the holes in the fence and grinned. "I knew you would!"

Liam sighed and began looking around for a door to the gate. There had to be some way for Gold to come and go to the pool, unless he used magic in his Lizard-Man form or something.

Finally, Liam noticed a latch and stood on tiptoe to open it. "Look! A door!" It was a bit hard to open, but he lifted the latch, pulled and the door squeaked open on rusty hinges. ,

Soon they were sitting on deck chairs beside the sparkling blue pool.

After a few minutes of sitting on the brightly coloured deck chairs, staring at the pool and talking about Ninja Turtles, they began to lose interest.

Finally, Liam said, "So, what do you think about going in?"

Killian shook his head vehemently. "Nuh-uh, no way! They told us not to! It might be dangerous!"

"You would've gone before," pouted Liam. "You're not fun anymore! You're always a scaredy cat about everything!"

"Am not!" snapped Killian. But he knew Liam would persist in trying to convince him to swim. Either he would end up going in with his brother, or Liam would go in himself and leave Killian alone and out of the adventure again. Killian glanced around desperately for something to distract his brother and noticed a beach ball wedged half way underneath his chair. He went around the chair, bent down and gave it an experimental kick.

"Heads up!" cried Killian as the beach ball skidded over towards Liam.

Liam kicked it back and soon they had a game of football going. At first they tried to keep it quiet and low key, sitting down where they couldn't be seen from the main floor windows, afraid of arousing Gold's attention if he was indeed still in the house, but when no one seemed to hear them, they stood up and kicked the ball harder, yelping when it landed someplace it wasn't supposed to go.

Liam kicked the ball hard to Killian. He'd stopped taking it easy on him, at least on the football pitch and Killian kicked back with equal vigour. Unfortunately, flip-flops weren't made for soccer, even when played with a beach ball. On his strongest kick, Killian's flip-flop went flying off his foot straight into the pool and so did the ball.

"Bollocks!" complained Liam. "Now we can't play."

"It's not my fault! You kicked it too hard! Now we're going to be in trouble! What if Crocodile Snacks kicks us out and makes us go back home? I don't wanna go in the airplane again! It was boring!"

"Come on, stop that," said Liam. "We're not going to be in trouble!"

"Yes we will! I told you we shouldn't go out here! I'll tell them that you made me!"

"Shut up!" snapped Liam.

"I'm going to tell Mum you said—"

But Liam had had enough and covered Killian's mouth with his hand. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Just—just quiet for a second, lemme think." Liam's eyes scanned the pool area desperately looking for something to help them out of their situation. Then his eyes met a long metal pool with a net on the end for catching up leaves that fall into a pool.

"Look, nobody has to know. We can get the ball and flip-flop out ourselves with this," said Liam, pointing to the net. "Just help me lift it off the wall."

Killian, glad to be asked by Liam to assist, helped Liam lift the end of the pole off the hooks that held it to the wall.

The pole was huge and long, but luckily, not heavy, as it was made of hollowed out aluminium.

"Now you hold the back part and I'll hold the front with the scooper," said Liam.

Together they walked around the pool's edge until they got to the deep end where the flip- flop and beach ball had travelled. The current had now pushed them right in the middle of the pool.

Together Liam and Killian maneuvered the pole into place.

"Hold up your end more," instructed Liam.

Obediently, Killian raised his end. Liam tried to tilt the net down to get the beach ball, which was the closest of all the objects. Stretching out as far as he could go, he just managed to snag the ball.

"Yay! Look we did it!" cheered Liam.

Unfortunately, in cheering he stopped paying attention to where his feet were on the slippery tiles and to Killian's complete and utter terror Liam went slipping off the edge of the pool straight into the water.

Liam did know how to swim a little. He could manage well enough in the shallow end, but in the deep end and totally shocked and terrified to find himself in the water so suddenly, any swimming skills he had went totally out of his head.

He screamed and the water went into his mouth. Panicking as his throat filled with water, Liam began to claw the water like he was climbing an invisible ladder.

Killian screamed for their mother, for Mr. Gold, for anyone to help. More than anything he wanted to dive into the water to rescue his brother, but it was like his feet were stuck fast to the ground, riveted by fear, his eyes forced to watch as his brother continued to thrash in the water, drowning.


	8. Chapter 8

The sound of the screen door slamming open behind him shocked Killian out of the trance of his fear and the next thing he knew he saw Mr. Gold dive into the pool, fully dressed in the clothes he'd met them at in the airport.

In a few quick strokes he was beside Liam pulling the sputtering boy up to the surface.

As soon as Gold had the boy's face above the surface he held him in his arms and told him firmly, "Shush, you're okay, you're okay." But Liam was still coughing and crying, his tears mixing with the chlorinated water.

"Liam! Liam!" cried Killian desperately, reaching out to his brother and Gold in the water.

"Stay back!" yelled Gold. "Don't you fall in too! Listen to me. I'm going to bring him up and then I'll need you to stay where you are to help me with him."

Killian's thoughts slowed and he began to take in what Gold was saying.

"Now come to the edge and do as I say," commanded Gold, his voice ragged with stress.

"Okay!" Killian gulped and approached the edge of the pool.

Gold brought Liam up to the edge of the pool and folded the sobbing boy's arms over each other on the ledge, keeping Liam's head and shoulders and arms above the water.

"There, just keep your breathy bits above the water," Gold said to Liam, holding his arms in place with one hand as he haul himself up out of the pool. Gold sat down heavily next to Liam's folded arms, pulling at his clothes, which were wet and heavy now, clinging tightly to his body.

He gave himself a moment to collect his breath before he flipped Liam around by his crossed arms and hauled him up to sit beside him on the edge, his feet still in the water.

Gold clapped Liam on the back to help him bring up the water he had swallowed. Liam coughed obediently, spewing up hot water. Just as he had Liam sitting up without support and, coughing up the rest of his swallowed water, Killian let out a piercing shriek.

Gold looked back at him faintly perturbed, only to see the younger boy pointing, white faced, to the centre of the pool.

"T-t-there- in the water! A foot!"

Gold looked back to where the boy was pointing with a sinking feeling. There was indeed a foot in the water. It was wearing one half of Gold's favourite pair of brown suede desert boots.

"Damnit," sighed Gold irritably. Gold ran a hand through his graying hair and tried to sound reassuring, "It's alright lad."

"B-but—"

"It's okay, it's mine," said Gold, but Killian didn't hear a thing.

All he could think was that the scary Lizard-Man ate someone and that was all that was left over.

"Please don't eat me too!" Killian cried, running to hide behind a chair.

"Eat you? What?" Gold twisted around trying to find Killian while still holding onto Liam who was sagging weakly against him now. "Killian, come back! I need your help! Please!"

Killian, against his better judgement peeped up his head above the chair back, but he couldn't really see much, other than the backs of his brother and Rum Gold sitting beside the water.

Gold twisted and looked up, relieved to see him.

"Killian, it's alright," he said gently, beckoning him closer. "See? I'm like you."

The retired magician lift up the end of one dripping trouser leg and Killian was a little startled to see he had no foot below the cuff of his trouser leg. The trousers went flat against the pool deck somewhere just above where his ankle should've been.

"See? Not scary. It's just my artificial foot. I usually take it off when I swim, but this wasn't exactly a planned thing," he gave a rueful smile as he patted his ruined leather trousers. "Not exactly, my regulation swimming outfit, this. Look, now I need your help, okay?"

Killian nodded, still not having quite absorbed all he was being told, but realized enough to know that Gold wouldn't eat him.

"Now you're going to help me get Liam over to that chair there, away from the pool and I'm going to get some towels for you to dry him with and then you're going to watch him and help him get dry, while I go back in the pool and get everything that fell in, okay?"

"You want me to watch Liam?" asked Killian, surprised. It was always the other way around, with adults always asking Liam to watch _him._

"Yes," said Gold firmly. "He's had a bit of a shock and it'll take a few minutes for him to get back to himself."

Killian helped Liam towards a deck chair nearby as Gold crawled over and got up on the chair with a grunt.

"Great, now get the towels from the pool house," instructed Gold.

Gold patted Liam's back to get the rest of the water out while Liam went and found the towels. Together, they wrapped a few warm fuzzy towels around Liam who was shivering with shock and cold.

Then Gold left Killian in charge of his brother as he went back to the pool to retrieve the objects still in the water.

Killian hugged his brother tightly in his arms through the towels, worried at how Liam's teeth were chattering.

"Ssssh, it's okay Liam," he whispered. "I've got you. You're safe now. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Liam sobbed a bit, nuzzled up against his brother's shoulder and returned the hug.

"Mum," said Liam as he began to come back to himself.

"Don't worry," said Killian. "I'll get her when Mr. Gold comes back."


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the delay in updating this. I have a baby at home and this parenting gig is a 24/7 thing! (Who knew babies sleep so little during the day?) Even when I have the time and energy it can be hard to get back into the swing of a story after so long away. Not sure if I'm completely happy with this chapter, but Liam and Killian deserve some closure after all this time, and just think of poor Mr. Gold left in soggy leather pants all these months!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Iris woke up from her nap, she saw Gold, Liam and Killian sitting downstairs at the kitchen table drinking hot tea. Gold would've preferred a cider, but he wasn't about to argue with the kids over a can of Strongbow. It had been a crazy enough day already.

When Iris saw Gold and Liam with their wet hair and Killian's little face stained with tears, somehow she instantly guessed what happened.

Though Iris hadn't been in the car with Killian when he'd been hurt, the trauma of seeing him in that hospital bed had done a serious number on her. Since then she had been unable to look at any possible source of danger without being plagued with terrible images of her children getting injured or killed by things as innocuous as plastic bags or bottle caps. The guilt and anxiety she coped with on a daily basis would flare up at the slightest of triggers. She tried to hide it from the boys, but it was always there now, just beneath the surface no matter what she did.

Knowing how shaken she'd probably be, Gold tried as gently as possible to explain what happened, but Killian foiled his plan by excitedly butting in with a dramatized play by play of Liam's fall in the pool and rescue by Gold. Despite everything, Iris was surprised to find herself so calm after finding out. She assumed the tears and shaking would come eventually, maybe late at night when everyone else was asleep and she could express things without worrying about looking "weak" like her ex-husband used to call her.

She sat down heavily across from Gold and pulled Liam, still wrapped in an overlarge yellow beach towel onto her lap. Ordinarily, he would've protested that sitting on Mum's lap was for babies, but today he was more than happy to let her hold him and rock him on her lap as she hadn't done for ages and kiss his cheeks, so grateful that he was alive and alright. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd always wondered if it'd been him instead of Killian who was hurt, would his mother care as much, sometime he felt so invisible, like she only cared about Killian and his problems. As awful as nearly drowning was, he was grateful to see his Mum hadn't stopped caring and still loved him just as strongly.

For a little while, as Iris held Liam tightly to her, his wet hair soaking through her T-shirt, she lost the thread of Killian's narrative, only half listening until she heard "And then I looked in the pool and there was a _foot_ floating there!"

"W_hat?"_

"It seems that somewhere in the process of diving into the water and picking up Liam here and towing him back to dry land, my prosthetic foot fell off," added Gold drily.

"Ah."

"His real foot was bit off by this crocodile when he was being the Lizard-man in this show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but he says it wasn't the crocodile's fault because someone in the audience startled it, but they had to kill the crocodile anyway and then some horrid person put the whole thing on Youtube and it got like a million hits and he didn't even see a penny,!" By this point Killian was waving his arms and practically shouting for emphasis, gleeful at being the one in the know about something for a change, although perhaps a little too enthusiastic sounding for the grim events he was describing.

"Mr. Gold, is that true?" asked Iris, wide eyed.

"If I say yes, would you promise me not to watch the video?"

"Don't worry, I'll only read the comments section."

Mr. Gold put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Oh! Just kidding, please, I'm so sorry," added Iris quickly. "I can't ever thank you enough for saving my lad. I'm sorry, it's—stuff like this brings out this mad sense of humour in me and I say things that are completely daft and you've been so kind to us and things have been so horrid lately and—"

Gold lifted his head with a wink. "Don't worry, love, takes more'n that to ruffle me."

She sighed and looked at his leather pants. "And I'm so sorry your lovely trousers are ruined."

"Please, think nothing of it."

"No, you saved my boy, I will be eternally in your debt. There must be something I can do—"

Just then an adolescent with dark curly hair and a skateboard under his arm walked in. "Watch out about making deals with him, he'll trick you into mowing the lawn!"

"Oh Baelfire, you wound me!" cried Gold with a hand on his heart in mock protest. "When you offer me anything in exchange for letting you go to an all ages club, what do you expect?"

"Baelfire?" asked Liam, peering up at the older boy.

"Ah yes, let me prrresent my son Baelfirrrre Gold!" announced Gold with a theatrical flourish of the hand and fancy rolling of the letter R.

Baelfire rolled his eyes good naturedly, clearly accustomed to his dad's cheesy Vegas-style introductions and grabbed a Coke from the fridge.

"You forgot me!" exclaimed a feminine voice.

"Oh and how could I neglect to mention the rrrrravishing _Mila,_ raven-haired enchantress of the high seas!"

The raven haired enchantress had apparently made a stop at Ralph's supermarket on her way home from picking Baelfire up at school and had a bag of turkey burgers and a pre-seasoned steak ready for the grill.

It was cooler now that the sun was going down a bit. Iris and Mila had lots of catching up to do. Rum Gold tended the grill while Baelfire showed the younger boys his rabbit hutch. Killian was over the moon at getting to play with the little black and white dwarf rabbits, all tears forgotten.

Only Liam hung back somewhat, watching Gold scrape the black crusts off the grill with the side of the spatula. He felt timid and a little frozen when he thought of speaking to the former magician, but he knew he had to say _something._

"Uh, th-thank you…for saving my life, Mr. Gold."

Mr. Gold turned to him with a warm smile. "Call me Rum, and no thanks is needed, just glad to be there."

"I'm sorry for not listening to the rules," said Liam, looking down, feeling like some ignorant nursery kid. "I shouldn't have done that." He looked around at the other spatulas and meat beside the grill. Everything looked so much more expensive then the stuff they used back home. Still, the principle had to be the same. "Is there something I can do to help? I've done burgers before. Me Dad taught me."

"Sure why not," shrugged Gold and fitted Liam with an apron and a spatula. "Just turn these hot dogs every so often."

Liam nodded, serious in his new duty. "Is that all I can do to help?"

"No, there's one more thing. How would you and Killian like swimming lessons?"


End file.
